"The middle classes are the backbone of the country and I completely understand their concerns. It is who my constituents are made up of and I have a real sense of their anger at the moment over rising council taxes, crime, dirty streets, the lack of safety; concerns about finding schools for their children, dirty hospitals…This is the context of my life as an MP. What I would say to strivers is that I don’t want to let them down by making false promises about tax that I can’t deliver. A Conservative Party led by me will be able to ease the pressure on hardworking families of middle Britain. I want to take away the endless controls and bureaucracy of local government which is causing this rise in council tax, the single most unpopular tax there is at the moment — and people fear another great clunking fist of council tax rises. I need to work harder to get that message across, and I accept that."

The reference to council tax is interesting. An ICM survey for the TaxPayers’ Alliance found out that the regressive council tax was Britain’s least popular tax. Mr Cameron has welcomed the Kirklees approach to cutting council tax for pensioners. Any chance of the rest of us getting some relief, Mr C?